With my experience of being alive on this planet for a half a hundred years, I should know that other people don’t operate on the same principles as I. We all have our own sense of right and wrong.

The problem is that sometimes your right is my wrong.

Case in point; we own a rental property.

When you rent a property, a normal part of business is that you sign a lease. This is a legal document that protects both parties – the tenant and the landlord.

For example, the tenant agrees that, for the length of the lease, he / she will not trash the place and will pay the monthly rent. This is the protection for the landlord.

The protection for the tenant is that the landlord, as long as the above conditions are met, can’t kick the tenant out on a whim. For example, if a friend suddenly needs a place to rent, the landlord can’t say to the tenant “Sorry. You’re out.”

Likewise, if rents suddenly skyrocket, the tenant is locked in at the agreed upon rate. If rents fall, the original rate is also locked in.

Protection for both parties. A good thing. Everyone knows upfront what the expense / income per month will be.

Our tenants just broke the lease. Moved out. Left a big mess.

Two months into a lease. Suddenly it is too expensive.

I try to allow the milk of human kindness to run through my veins. I feel like I’m a pretty empathetic person. I generally have compassion.

Not for stuff like this.

But Ron, you say, things happen. Perhaps the person lost his job. Maybe there was a huge emergency that came up. The stars may have gone out of alignment.

These things are true. If they happen, it is up to you to try and come up with a solution that benefits the other party. My heart is not made of stone. I can negotiate.

Leaving is not negotiation.

But Ron … you don’t know how you would react in a similar situation. You think you do, but you don’t.

Wrong. I once paid rent for 3 months on a place that I never lived in. Why? Because I said I would. Things changed for me. That doesn’t mean I don’t follow through with what I said I’d do.

Oh, so you think you’re some kind of hero? Nope. Not heroic in the least. Not a saint. Half the time not even a very nice person.

But it was the right thing to do. I had made an agreement.

When did the right thing to do become an option?

I know that personal responsibility is an anachronism. It wasn’t my fault seems to be the rallying cry of a generation.

I know that I live in a world that has many shades of grey. I am OK with that. I have screwed up so many times that I no longer have much inclination to judge anyone.

The grey areas are OK with me.

And yet … some things still tick me off. Try my patience. Take the biscuit.